Preaching - Sunday
- Evening Prayer II - December 8th
It takes a special kind of preacher to be able to say the
kinds of things St. Paul says and get away with it. Perhaps it was his fierce loyalty to Christ
or his unwavering love of the Church, but he had a way of getting to the heart
of the matter as he does in tonight’s two verses plucked from his letter to the
Romans. He says a lot in a little. He says it clearly…even bluntly – yet without
harshness.
“It is now the hour for you to
wake from sleep, for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the
faith.”
He is not talking here about waking up from literal sleep,
of course, but instead the spiritual sleep of malaise and discontent that can
lull us into a sullenness that is unbecoming of the Christian – especially, he
adds, when you consider the time for our salvation (ie. his return) is near at
hand; certainly closer now than when we first believed. Paul’s voice resounds like a clear bell “it
is now the hour for you to wake from sleep”.
He is speaking to his audience, the Church of Rome nearly two thousand
years ago, yet he is also speaking with us – here and now – challenging us to
shake off the cobwebs of our indifference and yawning sobriety and to ‘come
alive’ once again – opening ourselves to the fire that can come only from the
hearth of Christ, drawing life from having set deep roots in the stream of the
sacrament of salvation – His Church. Let
us not overlook how Paul links salvation with the acceptance of the faith “for
our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith”…the Church is
the one who holds the faith – not any one believer. The Church, under the authority of Christ
transmitted down throughout the lineage of the Church’s apostles and Popes,
bishops and finally to the people of God down through the ages, aided as
(she-the Church) is by the witness of the lives of the saints, men and women
who allowed Christ’s glory to shine amidst the grime and darkness of this
mortal life – a life fraught with difficulties and pain, shouldering burdens of
disease, distrust and discontent…yet overcoming these trials through the
precious gift of ‘the faith’, especially as witnessed to by the Church’s
sacrament of love, the most holy sacrifice of the Mass where Body and Blood are
given and received – to serve a greater end: new life!
Paul infers that he may have caught his audience napping –
not only the Church of Rome but us too.
And we must admit to an unhealthy somnolence! One wonders is it not through our own
somnolence, our own silence that our society calls death a choice and unchaste
love ‘fulfillment’ or an exercise in diversity.
Is it not our own family members who have been evangelized by worldly
thought patterns - and we who have been
asleep in the light? Yes, and more, we
may be feeling unwilling to change – to awake from our slumber. Yet salvation, and the truth, remain. Perhaps we could allow our hearts to come
alive through St. Paul’s associate, the Holy Spirit, this Advent. Perhaps a modern translation Paul might arrest
us by saying, stop it with the sleep apnea, wake up. But in order to wake up we need rest? Have you thought of this. In order to wake from sleep it is first
necessary to have gotten sufficient rest.
And this is what Advent affords us…rest.
A time of recollected listening so that we might ‘hear’ His voice
anew. His voice in our hearts. His voice calling us to depart from the ways
of darkness and self-gratification and turning around and heading into the
light. A turning from our old and
stubborn ways that are life-sapping and turning our hand to a new way of being,
not with pollyannish frivolity – nor beating ourselves over the head with our
own foolish shortsightedness – but awaking to His word in our hearts. A word that seeks to heal and purify the putrid,
to cleanse the decay, to renew the shambles and to do so with the healing power
of Christ.
I invite all
Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter
with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask
all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this
invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy
brought by the Lord”.
The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk;
whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already
there, waiting for us with open arms. Now is the time to say to Jesus: “Lord, I
have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet
here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once
again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace”. How good it feels
to come back to him whenever we are lost! Let me say this once more: God never
tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy. Christ,
who told us to forgive one another “seventy times seven” (Mt 18:22) has
given us his example: he has forgiven us seventy times seven. Time and time
again he bears us on his shoulders. No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed
upon us by this boundless and unfailing love. With a tenderness which nev-er
disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible
for us to lift up our heads and to start anew. Let us not flee from the
resurrection of Jesus, let us never give up, come what will. May nothing
inspire more than his life, which impels us onwards! (Pope Francis’ Apostolic Constitution Evangelii Gaudium, art. 3)
Indeed, onward Christian soldier, Christian brother,
Christian sister, Mother, Father, child of God – let us remember (je me souvenir) “the day draws
near.” This is not bad news, or sad
news, but the best news. The
difficulties of this day are drawing ever closer to their close, to their end,
we shall not suffer interminably, if we hold on to our faith – the faith – the
source of our hope and identity as believers.
Yet we should not underestimate the faith and strength needed to
persevere…so let us not go back to the darkness “but put on the armor of
light.” To be fitted with armor one must
go to the armory. In our Catholic
tradition we identify the armory as the Scriptures, prayer, adoration, emulation
of the saints, conversion from sin, devotion to the Sacred Heart, to Mary and
the saints, to the Eucharist, to family prayer, to prayer among married
couples, to understanding the ways the devil and his minions use to get at us –
and to get away from them! And the
bearing of our crosses, to lift high the cross in exultation, even as its
weight threatens to break our spirit and suffocate our breath forever. Yet this cannot occur, so long as we keep
ourselves grounded in the truth, and arrayed in the armor of light. Let us be truth-tellers and cross dwellers –
willing to bear one another’s burdens, and placing all our broken pride at the
foot of his cross and taking one halting step after another, to follow Him
always and to all places. Amen.
Good to see your words permeating the blogosphere again, my friend! Praying for you always, thanks for sharing your wisdom. May blessings to you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Natasha! Good to hear from you. Encouraging as always.
ReplyDelete